Prayer on Behalf of the Jewish Soldier (English-Hebrew)

Lord of the Universe
We, the people of Israel who are dwelling in the Diaspora
come to you in humility
and pray for Your help

Once more, our soldiers are asked
to defend our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land
against our enemies

We ask You to have pity on them
to help them watch over our people
with clean hands and a merciful heart

Watch over them, so that they will be safe
and not endure any suffering

Give our people the strength
to remain in good spirit
live in unity and walk in Your ways
the ways of justice and truth

Calm our soldiers’ wives, children, mothers and fathers
Lift their spirits and give them strength
while their husbands, fathers and sons fight for our people

Prevent them from making mistakes
by hurting or killing their fellow brothers-in-arms
with friendly fire

Please
let their bullets not hurt those children of our enemies
whose “guardians” place them deliberately in danger spots
fire on our soldiers
and then shield themselves
behind their own people
so as to fault our soldiers when their children
get hurt, or even killed

Let our soldiers not accidentally hit schools, hospitals
or convoys which provide food and medicine
as they are men who stand in awe before You
and this would unwittingly cause the violation of Your holy Name

Remove the evil spirit of these “guardians”
make them realize the wickedness of their actions
Stop their teachers from manipulating their students
by spreading hatred against us in their schoolbooks
on the radio, television and internet
Let good people on our planet not be indoctrinated
with evil talk about our army by those who manipulate
the media and are motivated by anti-Semitism
Erase the evil intentions of those members of the
Security Council who distort the truth.

O God
as one of our Prime Ministers, Golda Meir, once expressed
We may one day forgive our enemies for killing our children
but we will never forgive them for forcing our soldiers to kill

We beg You
do not allow our Jewish souls to undergo
this ordeal which we cannot bear
We are the children of Avraham, your servant
who prayed for the evil people of Sedom
in the hope that they would repent
and live decent lives

We therefore entreat You
to make our enemies repent
force them to understand
that our fellow Jews in Israel are good people
who wish to live in peace
with all their neighbors

O Lord, remove atrocities from our enemies’ thoughts
such as those in which they dip their hands
in our soldiers’ blood
As Jews, we cannot fathom
doing this to even our worst enemies

You commanded us to live in a country
barely larger than a tiny island
our population smaller than that of
many single cities
You asked us to live there so as to send
Your holy word to all corners of the world

But our brothers and sisters in Israel are surrounded
by many nations
comprising more than a hundred million people
who inhabit one of the largest regions of the world
yet deny our fellow Jews the right to live
in even the smallest corner of our planet
and only wish our extinction

Give the Arab nations and the Palestinians
leaders who are men of justice
who truly care for their people
and will not bring their own brothers
to despair and unbearable pain
while accusing our brothers of grave injustice
when they try to help them

Now, after thousands of years dwelling on Earth
after many exiles, pogroms, tortures
expulsions and holocausts
we finally found our way back
to our small homeland
that which You promised to our forefathers

But once more our dreams of peace
have gone up in smoke
as our fellow Jews tried, risking their own lives
to find a way to allow their neighbors
to live their own lives

While they were prepared to make sacrifices
for the well-being of these people
as no other nation ever did
while they offered them land, peace, finances
even firearms with which to defend themselves
we pay the price once more for being a people
who want to trust another nation and its leaders
Once more we have been misled

Why do so many wish to portray us
as an evil people?
Perhaps to deny Your existence
and Your moral demands?
They hide behind their own wickedness
and cover up their and their fathers’
immoral acts which they brought upon us
and our forefathers for thousands of years

O God, You know
that no army in world history
has used so much restraint as the Israeli army
No army is as careful not to hurt or kill as ours
But what can our soldiers do when they are fired upon by
thousands of rockets
and have to defend nearly one million of our brothers and sisters
in the south of our Holy Land
and are denied the possibility
to clearly show this to the world?

Please, God
bring peace into the hearts and minds
of our enemies
Let them be uplifted with a spirit of righteousness
Stop them from hating us for being Your people

Let us sanctify Your name
For this is our mission and dream
Allow us the possibility, once again
to teach Your ways to the nations of the world
and make them hear and understand

We hate war as nobody else does
we abhor the need to carry weapons
and we cannot stand the sound
of our own artillery and tanks

We are the People of the Book
The Book which demands
holiness, kindness and integrity
Our heroes are not the generals or marshals
but rather our prophets and our sages
men of righteousness.

So, deliver our soldiers from this anguish
bring peace to the nations
Let our soldiers not be compelled to use force against them
for our enemies will have no escape

Let the world not forget that our army is fighting not only our fight
but a fight for all of mankind
to undo the evil of terror which has swept Your world

Bring our soldiers home from the battlefields, alive and unharmed
in their own merit and in the merit of their wives, children and
parents, so that they can sanctify Your name

Let the blessing which You gave to Avraham come true
“And through you all the families of the Earth will be blessed”
For this is our hope

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About Nathan Lopes Cardozo

Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo is the Founder and Dean of the David Cardozo Academy and the Bet Midrash of Avraham Avinu in Jerusalem. A sought-after lecturer on the international stage for both Jewish and non-Jewish audiences, Rabbi Cardozo is the author of 13 books and numerous articles in both English and Hebrew. He heads a Think Tank focused on finding new Halachic and philosophical approaches to dealing with the crisis of religion and identity amongst Jews and the Jewish State of Israel. Hailing from the Netherlands, Rabbi Cardozo is known for his original and often fearlessly controversial insights into Judaism. His ideas are widely debated on an international level on social media, blogs, books and other forums.

Every week I receive hundreds of emails, as well as a host of important observations on my essays, via our website, Facebook, newspaper blogs, and other media outlets. It is therefore completely impossible for me to respond – for which I apologize – but please be assured that I read every comment, which I deeply appreciate and from which I learn so much. Only in exceptional cases will I respond in a subsequent essay. My office staff will try to be more prompt in posting these remarks on our website.

Thank you very much for taking the time to share your comments with me, as well as with your fellow readers. I hope you will continue to do so.

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